RM‘s impending mandatory military service in the South Korean army has gotten the BTS singer/rapper, 28, thinking about his journey so far with the K-pop supergroup, as well as its future once all seven members have finished their 18-month stints.

“After 10 years as a member of BTS, I didn’t know who I was and I wanted to know,” he told Spanish news agency EFE in a recent interview. “I started out as a teenage rapper, then BTS came along and it was all very intense. Now that the group is inactive, I’ve gone back to thinking about the beginnings and the real reasons why I joined BTS.”

And while the group’s members are all currently pursuing solo projects as they are in the midst of, or preparing for, their military obligation, the septet’s leader says he’s trying to keep a positive attitude.

“When you are famous, staying on top is very difficult,” he said about the rigors of maintaining the group’s global success. “But I think BTS will make it. It will come together again when we finish our military service, and we will look for new synergies between us to enter a second phase. But, in any case, nothing lasts forever.”

And while the latter comment seemed touched by a tinge of harsh pop reality, RM said the pause in BTS action “can be beneficial” to him as an artists because “some great work is born in personally chaotic moments.”

The good news for ARMY is that not long after releasing his solo album Indigo in late 2022, he headed to Spain recently for the first time looking for inspiration for his second solo effort. Though BTS did not make it there after their 2020 world tour was canceled due to the global pandemic, RM said he was excited to visit the country’s famed museums and check out works by painters Goya, Velazquez and Picasso.

At present, Jin is the only member of BTS currently in the military, but RM said the break to focus on solo work has allowed him to reflect on his place in the group and the larger music world. “After 10 years as a member of BTS, I didn’t know who I was and I wanted to know,” he said. “I started out as a teenage rapper, then BTS came along and it was all very intense. Now that the group is inactive, I’ve gone back to thinking about the beginnings and the real reasons why I joined BTS.”

The interview also included the tantalizing prospect of a superstar collaboration with an artist that RM said all the members of BTS like and respect very much. Asked if he’d be up for getting in the studio with Spanish superstar Rosalía, RM said, “if she wants to, I do too.”

RM recently released the third video from Indigo, for the track “Closer,” which followed on the heels of visuals for “Still Life” and “Wildflower.”